Nazi-Era Railcar Like Ones Used to Transport Jews Going on Display

By Lisa J. Huriash, South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Feb. 12–An old railroad boxcar similar to the ones used to haul Jews to their deaths in World War II Europe will be open to the public on Tuesday.

The boxcar was seized from the Germans in Polish territory after the war.

“Railroad cars of this type were used by the German state railway during World War II to transport people from occupied Europe to death camps,” according to a Feb. 1 letter from museum authorities in Poland to the South Florida Holocaust Documentation and Education Center.

Local officials said the car is important to historical preservation. It will be unveiled at 2 p.m. Tuesday at the Broward County Convention Center, 1950 Eisenhower Blvd. in Fort Lauderdale. The public will be able to look at the outside and peek inside its open doors. However, nobody will be allowed to walk through it until restoration is complete. It must be checked for termites and upgraded for air conditioning and electricity to make it safe for public inspection.

The car will be permanently installed on the “dead tracks” at the southwest corner of South 21st Avenue and Harrison Street, just a half-block from the South Florida Holocaust Museum, which will open late next year at 2031 Harrison St. in Hollywood.

“This was brought halfway around the world, and it represents man’s epitome for the capacity of evil,” said Rositta Kenigsberg, executive vice president of the holocaust documentation center. “If it wasn’t for the rail system, the Nazis and their collaborators would not have been able to transport victims to their deaths. This was more important as far as what they were trying to accomplish, genocide, than win the war, to transport arms to the front.”

The car is one of eight worldwide that fit the particular type and time of the Nazi transports. It was procured from a museum in Upper Silesia, Poland, where it was parked in a depot with other vintage cars. The museum donated the artifact, and the documentation center is paying only for shipping, about $15,000 to $20,000.

“It’s a reminder of history, a reminder of what happened there and what we don’t want to happen again,” said Harry A. “Hap” Levy, president of the holocaust documentation center. “It’s a symbol of what happened to the people who were put on that train and never came back.

“People say, ‘Why are you reminding us of it?’ And we say, ‘We have to.’”

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Copyright (c) 2007, South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News.

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